Baby Steps

In August of 1959, the Quarry Men, at this time comprised of John, Paul, George, and another school friend, played seven shows at a new Liverpool club called the Casbah, which was owned and run by Mona Best. Her son, Pete, who was the same age as the Quarry Men, happened to play the drums in another Liverpool group called the Blackjacks. Pete Best soon left the Blackjacks to join the Quarry Men, who had, by that time, changed their name to the Silver Beatles. Two days after Pete joined the group, they would change their name to the Beatles. Their name would never change again.

In addition to John, Paul, and George on guitars and Pete on the drums, the Beatles now featured Stuart Sutcliffe on the bass guitar. Stuart was a friend of John's from art college in Liverpool, which John had been attending since 1957. Stuart was as talented a painter as he was limited as a bass player, but he had a huge influence on John's personality, being extremely creative and individualistic. Stuart would accompany the band on their first trip to Hamburg, Germany, in August 1960.

Their part-time manager, Allan Williams, had arranged the band's trip to Hamburg. Several other Liverpool pop groups managed by Allan Williams had been invited to Hamburg to play by a visiting German nightclub owner, and had written back indicating that the money they were earning there was good—better than they could make in Liverpool. The Beatles soon began performing shows at the Kaiserkeller Club in Hamburg. This time onstage, in the trenches, so to speak, was to have an invaluable effect on their future career as the Beatles.